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A27340
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The belief of praying for the dead
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Belhaven, John Hamilton, Baron, 1656-1708.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing B1787; ESTC R16794
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35,862
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72
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from the Apostles themselves For the Catholick Church every where observes this Nor would She give Alms or offer Sacrifice for Souls Departed unless she believ'd the Faithful Deceased receiv'd pardon of their Sins Nothing can be more fully exprest for Roman Catholicks First Prayers are offer'd for the Faithful deceased Secondly For their Rest and Remission of their Sins Thirdly The Catholick Church thorow the whole world practis'd the same Fourthly 'T was believ'd Apostolical Tradition And shall a pretended Reformer start up without any warrant of a new Revelation from Heaven and banish this Pious Devotion and contradict the whole Church of God and teach contrary to what the Blessed Apostles deliver'd S. Gregorie the Great Eminent for Learning and Piety and with whom the whole Church of Christ communicated in Religion page 6. the Discourser of his own accord gives up as one of ours so would he if he were just give us all the Fathers The Council of Calcedon Or the Fourth General which the Religion by Law Establish'd reverences approves of the same Doctrine Recording to Posterity what was laid to Dioscorus's Charge who was condemn'd by the Synod Amongst others of the Accusations which were brought against him we find that he was impeach'd and said to have dispos'd of a great summ of Money contrary to the Deceased's desires who gave it with intent to be pray'd for Conc. Calc an 451. Tom. 4. Conc. Lab. Pag. 401. Act. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But no body says the Acts of this OEcumenical Synod is ignorant of the business of the Renowned Peristeria of Happy Memory For She Commanded in her last Will and Testament a considerable summ of Money to be given for her Soul to Monasteries Hospitals Alms-Houses and to the Poor of the Aegyptian Province And yet by the disposal of Dioscorus things were so Order'd That as much as lay in him even Incense was not offer'd from the Sacrifice to GOD in Remembrance of the most Illustrious deceased Peristeria The Acts take Notice First That this Lady gave Money with intent that after her Death the Prayers of the Faithful should benefit her Soul. In Bulla pii Pont. This is our Article of Faith which obliges us firmly to hold that the Dead are help'd by the Prayers of the Living Secondly This was the Practice of the whole Church because spoken of with approbation in an OEcumenical Council and no body say the Acts was ignorant of it Thirdly The hinderance of this Devotion was look'd upon as a great Crime 'T was laid to Dioscorus's Charge In as much as lay in him Sacrifice was not offered for the Deceased Theodoretus Who liv'd at the same time that this general Council was assembled gives us another confirmation not of a private Person praying in his Oratory for the Soul of his deceased Friend but of the Emperor Theodosius prostrating himself before the Reliques of St. John Chrysostom Theod. l. 5. Histor c. 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and praying for the Souls of his deceased Parents Arcadius and Eudoxia His looks sayes this Historian and eyes fix'd on the Tombe of this Holy Man St. Chrysostom he let tears fall for his Parents and he beg'd that he the Saint would obtain pardon for them of their faults contracted through ignorance For long before this his Parents were dead and he was left very young and an Orphan St. Austin Is so clear in this Controversy for Roman Catholicks that Calvin had not confidence enough to deny it These are the Saints words St. Aug. Serm. 34. de verbis Apostoli Orationibus St. Ecclesiae Sacrificio salutari eleemosynis quae pro illorum spiritibus erogantur non est dubitandum mortuos adjuvari ut cum eis miseri cordiùs agatur à Domino quam eorum peccata meruerunt Hoc enim à Patribus traditum universa observat Ecclesia ut pro eis qui in corporis sanguinis Christi communione defuncti sunt cum ad ipsum sacrificium loco suo commemorantur Oretur Funeral Pomps attendance of Obsequies rich constructure of Monuments are some Comfort to the Living and no Relief to the Dead But it is not at all to be doubted that the Prayers of the holy Church the wholesome Sacrifice and Alms-deeds given for the deceased are beneficial to the Dead that God might deal more mildly with them than their sins have deserv'd For this which was delivered by our fore-Fathers the Vniversal Church observes to pray for those who are departed in the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ when they are commemorated in their place at the Sacrifice Thus S. Austin And thus Roman Catholicks We pray for the Faithful deceased S. Austin prays for the same for those who are departed in the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ We pray with intent that God may ease their Sufferings so did S. Austin That God might deal more meekly with them than their Sins have deserv'd We look upon this as part of our Christian Duty so did S. Austin For this which has been deliver'd by our fore-Fathers the Vniversal Church observes Nor is this Learned Father contented here He reckons the opposite Errour Heretical The Aerian Hereticks De Haeres num 53. de Aerio Aëriani ab Aerio quodam sunt nominati qui cum esset Presbyter doluisse fertur quod Episcopus non potuit ordinari in Arianorum haeresim lapsus propria quoque dogmata addidisse nonnulla dicens orare vel offerre pro Mortuis oblationem non oportere contra ista sentit Ecclesia Catholica sayes he take their Name from Aerius who being a Priest was griev'd that he could not get a Bishoprick and being fallen into the Arian Heresy he added some of his own peculiar Doctrines saying We ought not to pray nor offer sacrifice for the Dead The Catholick Church teaches the contrary This Aerius is the first Man we read of who deny'd Prayers for the Dead In what sense he deny'd them S. Austin declares viz. in the sense opposite to what the Vniversal Church observ'd Now the Universal Church pray'd as this Holy Father observes with intent to ease the Deceased in their Sufferings That GOD might deal more meekly with them than their Sins deserv'd S. Hierome Vindicates himself from Origen's Error in which some would involve him In Proverb cap. 2. Mortuo homine iniquo nulla erit ultra Spes Heu misere hanc sententiam pertransijt Origenes qui post universale extremumque judicium vitam credit omnibus impiis peccatoribus dandum Notandum autem quod etsi impiis post Mortem spes veniae non est sunt tamen qui de levioribus peccatis cum quibus obligati defuncti sunt post Mortem absolvi possunt vel poenis videlicet castigati vel suorum precibus eleemosynis Missarumque celebrationibus sed haec quibuscunque fiunt ante judicium de levioribus fiunt erratis writing thus
their final Consummation in Glory Euseb Hist l. 3. c. 39. An other Opinion there was of the Millenary Kingdom That those of the Faithful whose Piety had been most eminent should reign a thousand years in all delights with Christ upon earth A Third Opinion and that too not without Patrons was That all men being rais'd up at the Last Day should pass through a certain probatory Fire in which every man should be scorched and purified some more others less according as they had lived better or worser Lives here upon earth Pag. 47. The First says the Discourser Pray'd that GOD would comfort them in the bosome of Abraham with the blessed Company of Holy Angels and the Vision of our Saviour Christ till the wished for day of Judgment should come The Second flattered themselves That by their Prayers they might hasten the Felicity of their Friends and accordingly pray'd for their speedy rising in Christ's Kingdom The Third sort pray'd that God would have Mercy on their Dead at the last day and not suffer them to be so much sing'd and burnt in the General Conflagration at the end of the World. How true these things are I shall not enquire The Discourser advances them without proof and holds them no more than Opinions This is sufficient for me at present Pag. 5. But the Discourser avers that it is from these Opinions That those of the Roman Communion impose upon the unwary their pretence of Antiquity for this Doctrine Confidence will assert any thing And I expected a great Warranty for this bold Assertion And may expect long enough before I get one for the Discourser is so far from thinking of this that he has not as yet made Choice of which of these Opinions he shall pitch upon to do our business and therefore barely asserts from these Opinions it is but he knows not from which of them it is or rather he knows 't is from none of them nor upon any other pretence whatsoever do the Roman Catholicks endeavour to impose upon the Vnwary This indeed he waranted sufficiently wiping off in some manner the foregoing Aspersion Disc p. 10. by taking care to tell the Reader That he allow'd of what Natalis Alexander said to be the Belief in this point of the Roman Church Nat. Alexand. Sec. 4. par 3. pag. 352. Id unum itaque Catholicos inter Protestantes in Controversiam venit utrum Fides doceat aliquem esse defunctorum statum in quo poenis temporaneis expientur à quibus Ecclesiae precibus liberari vel in ijs sublevari possint These are Natalis's Words The only thing therefore that is in Controversy between Catholicks and Protestants is this whether Faith teaches there is a State of the Dead in which they shall be expiated by temporary Punishments and from which they may be freed or otherwise helped by the Prayers of the Church How far distant this Belief and Sense of Roman-Catholicks is from the Three mentioned Opinions a short perusal and slight comparison will abundantly evidence For the First that place of Sequester was free as the Discourser will have it of all pain and trouble And the Second that of the Millenary Kingdom overflow'd with satisfactions there is no Sin in either of them to be pardon'd no penalty to be endur'd which are the Motives Why Roman Catholicks pray that God will be pleas'd to help the detained in a Middle State or Purgatory Nor can the last State viz. that of the general Conflagration enter into this present Controversy because it has not as yet a Being it only will be Disc pag. 5. says the Discourser in the end of the World. And what is convincing the Discourser acknowledges all this to be true where he says It is evident to any one that shall please to compare these with the Account I shall hereafter give of the present Roman Purgatory how vastly different they were from what is now proposed to us as an Article of Faith. 'T is very true That Roman Catholicks distinguish between Faith and Opinion what they now believe in this present Controversy was alwaies lookt upon as part of a Christians duty But I cannot see how Reformers can allow of any such distinction Opinion increas'd their pretended Reformation of Religion into Thirty Nine Articles But Roman Catholicks are the Old Church with which Christ has promis'd and his Promises are certain to be present till the end of the World. Nihil innovetur nisi quod traditum est She daily repeats what blessed Pope Stephen said in the Third Age in the Voice of Her surviving and chief Pastors upon Earth Let nothing of Novelty be introduc'd keep what you have from Tradition CHAP. V. What it is the Church of Rome means by Praying for the Dead I Have already given a short and as I think satisfactory Account of this Chap. 3. in the Decree of the Council of Florence where it is determin'd That we pray for the Faithful deceased who have not sufficiently satisfy'd here upon earth for their Offences for which they now suffer that God would be pleas'd to free them from these Sufferings The Council of Trent teaches the very same Concil Trid. Sess 22. cap. 2. Docet sancta synodus sacrificium istud vere propitiatorium esse quod non solùm pro fidelium vivorum peccatis poenis satisfactionibus alijs necessitatibus sed pro defunctis in Christo nondum ad plenum purgatis rité juxta Apostolorum Traditionem offertur That the Sacrifice is an Expiation offer'd not only for the sins pains satisfactions and other necessities of the Living but also for the deceased in Christ not yet fully purg'd according to the Tradition of the Apostles In the Third Canon of the same Session Sess 22. Can. 3. Si quis dixerit Missa Sacrificium non esse propitiatorium neque pro Vivis Defunctis pro peccatis poenis satisfactionibus alijs necessitatibus offerri debere Anathema sit the same Council thus resolves If any shall say that the Mass is not a propitiatory Sacrifice nor ought to be offered for the Living and the Dead for their sins pains satisfactions and other necessities let him be Anathema And in the Decree of Purgatory we find these Words Since the Catholick Church Sess 25. Decretum de Pur. Cum Catholica Ecclesia Spiritu sancto educta ex sacris Literis antiqua Patrum-Traditione in sacris Conciliis novissime in hâc OEcumenica Synodo docuerit Purgatorium esse Animasque ibi detentas fidelium Suffragiis potissimum verò acceptabili Altaris Sacrificio juvari praecipit sancta Synodus c. inspir'd by the Holy Ghost has from Holy Scriptures and Ancient Tradition of Fathers taught in Holy Councils and last of all in this OEcumenical Synod that there is a Purgatory and that the Souls there detained are help'd by the Suffrages of the Faithful especially by the acceptable